In a Dry and Thirsty Land

Psalm 63:1 (KJV)

O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee… in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is.

Notice where David is writing from. Not a good season. A dry and thirsty land, where no water is. This is a wilderness prayer.

We assume spiritual hunger belongs to the good times — that when we feel close to God we will want more of Him, and when we feel dry we should wait until the feeling returns. David does the opposite. The dryness is exactly what makes him seek early.

Thirst is not the absence of faith. It is one of faith's most honest forms. A person who feels nothing and still gets up early to seek God is not far from Him; they are demonstrating something a comfortable believer never has to prove.

If you feel nothing today, do not perform. Say the true sentence: I want to want you. That is a real prayer, and in a dry land it is the beginning of water.